As posted long ago, October ushered in our Sam’s fifth birthday. The night before, she declared, “Mom, I think I need some balloons with my signs in the morning.”  We were happy to oblige- Matt blew up balloons, then helped me finish signs to tape around her room and down the stairway.  And birthday notes are now  tradition.  When we took her out for a birthday dinner, she wasn’t the only one giddy to have us all to herself.  At the end of the evening, I pulled the blankets over a weary girl who whispered, “Mom, do I look 5?” With the sweetest ache in my heart I whispered back, “Oh, Sam. You look exactly that. Perfectly 5.” And she did.

Sometime mid month, we painted pumpkins with Aunt Nae.

The Hogeye Festival, of course, lived up to all our expectations- tons of live music, no lack of hay, and a really, really good time. I love that pig. (And Nae.)

And blissful as visits and festivals are, October was about to get even better.  First came the debut of the Harvest Fair for our neighborhood, an event Matt and I organized, along with an invaluable team of neighbors who planned and manned booths, decked out our gig with swingin’ decor, provided the tunes, and took care of set up/ clean up in record time.  It couldn’t have gone better!  But every time I think of the Harvest Fair, I can’t help remember the panic when we mislaid BOTH our phones the night before, and stalked old friends on Facebook to call them. (We owe a HUGE, long overdue thank you to the facebooking-at-1 am-on-a-school-night teenager who called to help track them down.  And did I already say The Harvest Fair ROCKED!!!   It did.  But as parents we were heels- not one picture of those beauties in their costumes this year. Isn’t that awful? The pictures below come courtesy of Grandpa’s cell phone.

Last but not least, the Primary Program made its debut Halloween day. Our cool Primary counselor organized most of the presentation. Muchos Gracias, Sister T! Almost all the kids stood up to that mic like they’d been itching to speak into it for months. Sister T had 10 of them play chimes to accompany the song, “All Things Bright and Beautiful,” a performance only outdone by certain twin sunbeams who licked each other’s faces while their class said the first Article of Faith.

I can’t WAIT to do it all again very soon!